Collective Wisdom Blogs

above SUN THE GENTLE, WIND below CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER The idea of increase is expressed in the fact that the strong lowest line of the upper trigram has sunk down and taken its place under the lower trigram. This conception also expresses the fundamental idea on...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below CH’IEN THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN This hexagram signifies on the one hand a break-through after a long accumulation of tension, as a swollen river breaks through its dikes, or in the manner of a cloudburst. On the other hand, applied...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH This hexagram is related in form and meaning to Pi, HOLDING TOGETHER (8). In the latter, water is over the earth; here a lake is over the earth. But since the lake is a place where water collects, the...

above K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD The lower trigram, Sun, represents wood, and the upper, K’un, means the earth. Linked with this is the idea that wood in the earth grows upward. In contrast to the meaning of Chin, PROGRESS...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER The lake is above, water below; the lake is empty, dried up. Exhaustion is expressed in yet another way: at the top, a dark line is holding down two light line; below, a light line is hemmed in between two...

above K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD Wood is below, water above. The wood goes down into the earth to bring up water. The image derives from the pole-and-bucket well of ancient China. The wood represents not the buckets, which in...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below LI THE CLINGING, FIRE The Chinese character for this hexagram means in its original sense an animal’s pelt, which is changed in the course of the year by molting. From this word is carried over to apply to the...

above LI THE CLINGING, FIRE below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD The six lines construct the image of Ting, THE CALDRON; at the bottom are the legs, over them the belly, then come the ears (handles), and at the top the carrying rings. At the same time, the image suggests...

above CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER below CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER The hexagram Chên represents the eldest son, who seizes rule with energy and power. A yang line develops below two yin lines and presses upward forcibly. this movement is so violent that it arouses...

above KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN The image of this hexagram is the mountain, the youngest son of heaven and earth. The male principle is at the top because it strives upward by nature; the female principle is below, since the...

above SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN This hexagram is made up of Sun (wood, penetration) above, i.e., without, and Kên (mountain, stillness) below, i.e., within. A tree on a mountain develops slowly according to the law of its being and...

above CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE Above we have Chên, the eldest son, and below, Tui, the youngest daughter. The man leads and the girl follows him in gladness. The picture is that of the entrance of the girl into her husband’s house....

above CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER below LI THE CLINGING, FIRE Chên is movement; Li is flame, whose attribute is clarity. Clarity within, movement without-this produces greatness and abundance. The hexagram pictures a period of advanced civilization. However, the fact...

above LI THE CLINGING, FIRE below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN The mountain, Kên, stands still; above it fire, Li, flames up and does not tarry. Therefore the two trigrams do not stay together. Strange lands and separation are the wanderer’s lot. THE JUDGMENT The...

above SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD Sun is one of the eight doubled trigrams. It is the eldest daughter and symbolizes wind or wood; it has for its attribute gentleness, which nonetheless penetrates like the wind or like growing wood with...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE this hexagram, like sun, is one of the eight formed by doubling of a trigram. The trigram Tui denotes the youngest daughter; it is symbolized by the smiling lake, and its attribute is joyousness. Contrary to...

above SUN THE GENTLE, WIND below K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER Wind blowing over water disperses it, dissolving it into foam and mist. this suggests that when a man’s vital energy is dammed up within him (indicated as a danger by the attribute of the lower...

above K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE A lake occupies a limited space. When more water comes into it, it overflows. Therefore limits must be set for the water. The image shows water below and water above, with the firmament between them as a...

above SUN THE GENTLE, WIND below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE The wind blows over the lake and stirs the surface of the water. Thus visible effects of the invisible manifest themselves. The hexagram consists of firm lines above and below, while it is open in the center. this...

above CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN While in the hexagram Ta Kuo, PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT (28), the strong lines preponderate and are within, inclosed between weak lines at the top and bottom, the present hexagram has weak lines...